Two of my three children have had times of eating poorly. Very bad. They have been, what many people call "bad eaters" and, I confess that for parents it is very tiring. There are days when you get along better, and you comfort yourself by repeating yourself again and again that if they do not eat it is because they are not hungry, but on other occasions it is inevitable not to be alarmed at the situation.
If you also have a little one who has trouble eating, we offer you a practical and simple guide with the things you should and should not do in this situation.
Pediatrician Review
One of the biggest concerns of parents is feeding their children. We want to grow healthy, eat everything and do it in a healthy way. But what happens when our child refuses to eat day after day, or do we consider that what he eats is not enough?
If we are really worried, it is best to make an appointment with the pediatrician so that assess if there is any health problem behind that lack of appetite. But if the doctor tells us that everything is normal and its growth is still within its percentile, there will be no cause for concern.
In Babies and more "Quiet, you will eat" can be dangerousRespect and understand the child
Once we have ruled out any health problem, it is important that we do the exercise of try to understand our son, and not take your lack of appetite or refusal to eat as personal.
For this, it is advisable to put ourselves in his place and think that if we, as adults, have gusts in which we have more appetite than others, and foods that we like more than others, why should the same thing not happen to children?In addition, it is important to know that as they grow they also vary their energy needs. Thus, when they enter a stage of slow growth, it is normal for their appetite to decrease. Also, after two years many children also enter a (completely normal) phase called neophobia, which leads them to refuse food they used to take or refuse to try new things.
Offer you all kinds of food and don't give up if you don't like something
Once we have ruled out any problem and done the exercise of understanding and respecting the child, let's start by offering all kinds of food, running away from monotonous diets. In this sense, remember the importance of feeding the baby in its first year of life, as it is shown that the eating patterns that the child follows in its first months, will persist in his brain for quite some time.
So that, since the complementary feeding begins, we try to offer the child (almost) any food, framed within a varied and healthy diet. Also, remember that you should not fall into the error of stopping offering your child what you don't like!
In Babies and more The AEP says yes (for the first time) to the BLW in its recommendations for complementary feedingOn the other hand, and although children refuse by system to try new foods, it is important not to give up, and continue to offer them patiently and without forcing, until your acceptance is gradually arriving. According to experts, the child could begin to accept the food after having tried it 10 to 15 times.
Eat with your family and in a pleasant atmosphere
Sharing the family table is essential to instill good eating habits. The example of the parents and the nutritional education that is done at the table It plays a very important role in educating our children and creating a positive environment.
The time of the meal should be pleasant, without haste and without interference. Well sitting at the table, parents will teach children to eat slowly, chew well and enjoy food.And if our son doesn't want to eat, let's avoid turning the time to sit at the table into a problem. Let us put stress and anxiety aside, and do not fall into screams, cries and arguments, that all they will get will be to overwhelm them even more.
Do not force, cheat, or blackmail
Numerous studies have determined that forcing children to eat is counterproductive, because not only does it not help the selective feeding to be reduced, but it could cause the opposite effect, and cause greater rejection.
In Babies and more Why don't you have to force babies to eat: neither the plane, nor the pacifier or cheat with something elseBut forcing to eat the whole dish or part of it is also:
Use entertainment techniques or hoaxes so that they open their mouths in an automatic way without paying attention to what they are eating: for example, while we do magic tricks, we put the pacifier to force them to swallow, we make the plane or entertain them with other stories)
Blackmail or threaten them, with phrases of the style: "if you do not eat you do not go to the cinema", "until you eat three more tablespoons, do not get up from the table", "you have to eat so that the Magi will bring you many gifts" ...
Outside screens at lunchtime
A mobile or a tablet interfering at mealtime is counterproductive for the little ones, no matter how much fun you project. Recall that the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests avoiding the exposure of babies up to 18 months to the screens, and adds that the use of devices before two years could delay the development of speech in children.
Do not use food as rewards or punishments
Food should never be a reward or a punishment, that is, we should not reward fish intake with goodies, for example, nor force the child to take a plate of broccoli if he has not obeyed us in other aspects.
By doing this, the child will unconsciously associate the intake of certain foods with something sacrificed, ugly and unpleasant. In addition, we will be contributing to increasing the consumption of sugar in your diet by using goodies as a reward or dessert.
In Babies and more The danger of using less healthy food as a rewardLet children handle food
When it comes to starting with complementary feeding, let's take advantage of the innate curiosity babies have for explore, experiment and imitate adults implementing self-regulated feeding or Baby Led Weaning. In this way, the child will come into contact with food autonomously, and will better accept its different flavors and textures.
Mix foods you like with non-food on a plate
If, for example, our son doesn't like vegetables, let's try to combine them on the same plate with other foods that they accept willingly. In this way, it is easier to get them incorporated into your diet. It's not about camouflaging the food they reject, but to present it in a pleasant way or combine it with other ingredients that you like more.
In Babies and more It is not good to camouflage the vegetables to the kidsBig plates, less food
If a child who has trouble eating, we put a food overflowing dish, it's easy to get overwhelmed. That is why it is preferable to offer a smaller ration and for the child to repeat if he is hungry, than to offer a large amount of food at the beginning.
We can also resort to the trick of present the food on a plate or large tray, so that visually the child thinks that the ration in front of him is smaller than he really is.
The food enters through the eyes
It is not about making each dish a work of art, but it is important to remember that food enters through the eyes so a Attractive presentation of food can become our best ally.
Sometimes it is enough to use a tableware with drawings that motivate the child, distribute the food by colors, present a varied dish with different types of food, and play with the placement of the ingredients inside the plate.
In Babies and moreThe presentation of the dishes, key for children to accept food betterDo not accompany meals with milk
Milk is very important in children's diet, but we must not forget that it's not about a drink without more, but of a food that provides multiple nutrients and fats.
Therefore, if we offer the child a glass of milk before meals, or we use milk as a drink while they eat or eat dinner, their appetite will decrease and they will stop eating other foods.
Plan the menu, buy and cook with them
A form of bring the child into contact with food in a healthy way It is to involve them in the whole process: from the planning of the family menu, to the acquisition of food in the supermarket and its subsequent cooking.
In Babies and more, cooking with children is fashionable, also at home?In this way, we can ask our son to give us some suggestion for the menu, and accompany us to make the purchase. Let him, for example, choose the vegetables you want to take, weigh them on the scale and put them inside the basket.
Once at home, we will encourage the child to cook with us the food we have bought. This will generate in them a great curiosity, will increase their expectations and they will be proud of their contribution.Syrups to whet your appetite?
Given the lack of appetite for children at lunchtime, many parents may think that the solution would be to offer them a syrup to whet their appetite. But as we can read in this document of the Spanish Association of Primary Care Pediatrics, This type of drugs is not recommended:
"Actually there are no drugs whose effect is to increase appetite. Molecules such as cyproheptadine or pizotifen are actually substances that have an increased effect on appetite. Neither of them has proven useful and can produce other side effects."
If the pediatrician does not recommend itIt is also not necessary to give our children a multivitamin, because the excess of vitamins in the diet can be counterproductive. In healthy children, it is enough to offer a healthy and varied diet, and not forget the daily practice of outdoor physical exercise.
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